It's over...

At 4:00 this afternoon (or 1600 for those of you who prefer military time :) ) I underwent my LEEP. First, the IUD came out. Wow...I never expected it to hurt like it did, but it was a quick ouch and it was over. Then came the LEEP procedure. The doctor inserted the speculum and placed a gel filled pad on my right leg. Before numbing the area with lidocaine, he cleaned the area with iodine and then numbed me up. The numbing hurt the most as lidocaine burns when it goes in. After numbing was complete, the machine was turned on and the surgery began. I was awake for the whole thing and I bet he wishes I was knocked out because my nerves cause me to talk more than normal (and for those who know me well probably feel for the doctor at this point!). I didn't feel much other than some minor "shock" feeling sensations as the electrode cut away the lesion. I did smell some burning because, well, that's what was entailed, some cauderization. The procedure took about 20 minutes and when I was done I was shaky, shocked and cramping pretty bad. The MA showed me the lesion he took out (and that was fine because I can handle seeing my own tissue) and my eyes widened...the section was about 1 inch by 1 inch or a little less. I'm not exagerating on the size. In the center of pink tissue lay a strip of whitish-grey...the mass. The cervix is normally about 5-6 inches long, so one inch isn't really a big deal. After that was all done, I got dressed and went home.

I am so glad that's over now. Because not only will we know WHAT it was, we'll know that it's GONE. That really eases my mind.